Ten years ago, Faith Popcorn declared "the end of shopping" in her bestselling book The Popcorn Report. But from the looks of things, shopping is as pervasive as ever; we are a culture obsessed and beguiled by the desire for consumer goods.

Journalist and shopping pundit Pamela Klaffke documents the history of shopping, from a time when cattle were currency to the current age of contemporary shopping phenoms like eBay.

Topics covered include:
- The history of shopping malls and department stores
- The evolution of retail design
- Inventions that made shopping easier: the cash register, the shopping cart, the bar code
- Information on the largest fashion retail chain (The Gap), the largest retail firm (Wal-Mart) and the world's largest mall (West Edmonton Mall)
- Shopping meccas and customs from around the world
- The dark side of shopping: kleptomania, shopping addictions, anti-consumerism
- The myths: Men Who Hate Shopping and Women Who Love Shoes.

Full of fun and informative sidebars and photos, Spree demonstrates that how we shop explains a lot about who we are.